I had to share something adorable that happened today at work.

Every morning we aide trade: me and an aide from another room do group activities in one class, then swap to the other room. (Make sense??)

Anyways. Mondays I do handwriting lessons with the kids. Helping them write their letters just a little better (hopefully) In the first classroom, I was teaching how to do a "T" and I always say "BEAUTIFUL" if it's super nice. So as I was checking their whiteboards, and one of the kids said to the other one "That's a BEAUTIFUL 'G' you wrote Sarah". Now I said we were writing "T"s....but sure enough she had written a beautiful "G" on her board.

Then in MY classroom, I was again teaching "T", and I was waiting to see who knew what the letter was. I asked one of them to tell me the letter *blank stare* so I said, "Let's ask one of your friends for help yeah?" So my little Juan, without waiting, says, "Leo, this is a T. It makes the "tuh" sound silly." And so Juan taught my lesson for me hahahaha His little voice was so cute telling the kids how to write the letter. "Down, and give it a roof!" & "Down and cross" (he JUST barely turned 5)

And yes, they all say "BEAUTIFUL" when they do something nice hahahahahaha

Oh kids they slay me ;)

Last night I went with my mom and grandma to the LDS Relief Society Boradcast. I hadn't ever been to one (I usually had to work at the Disney Store) but boy was it needed. I didn't even realize how much I needed to hear the words of comfort and love until they were spoken.

The sisters were amazing and I'm going to try to do better about my visiting teaching  and such, but I will say that the highlight was hearing President Uchtdorf speak to us.

He spoke of the forget-me-not flowers. (Which has a huge significance to me and the hubs anyways) and for us to realize that even though we may not have the perfectly blossomed red rose, we have those beautiful little forget-me-nots all around us.

He told us not to be too hard on ourselves for not being perfect right now as the world seems to think we need be. He told us to stop comparing our weaknesses to the strengths of others. Now I don't know bout you, but I definitely struggle with this. I want so much to be better with being cute all the time, or being crafty, or being someone everyone wants to be friends with, or model themselves after. And sometimes I forget how much I already have, in pursuit for what I think I need or want. This seems to be a recurring theme in us of the female persuasion ;)

I'm going to make a printable about forget-me-nots to help me remember not to focus so much on being a perfectly blossomed red rose, when I can be a beautifully small forget-me-not and still be all I can be ;)

9-11-2001:
My mom came in and woke me up saying "Ali you need to see this." So I groggily got up and walked out to the TV and all my sleepiness washed away. I saw the second plane hit the tower and watched them fall. I felt a sense of dread that I hadn't felt before, and all I could think was "please let this be some sort of freak accident" until I heard the reporters talking and they said it was terrorists. And I'll be honest, I'd never really heard of terrorists before, cuz they weren't all that real to me yet. 9/11 changed everything.

I was 13 and in 7th grade. There wasn't any teaching that day, no homework not really a lot of talking even at lunch. We just sat watching the TV all day and discussing things we didn't understand with our teachers.

My dad was supposed to fly home that day, but luckily he had found a flight the night before. I remember thinking about the pain of all the families that lost their loved ones that day. What we as a country lost. I was devasated until I realized that this was just a trial we would have to endure as a country. I believe we have, when has our country been stronger and more united? Strangers help each other more often now, people from all walks of life shared this tragedy and we became stronger for it.

When I graduated high school, we went on a trip to New York as my graduation present and we visited Ground Zero. Never have I been so humbled by what I saw, and tears flowed freely as we walked through a chapel that was across the street from the site. I believe the Red Cross used it as their site for awhile. There was a group of teenagers being super disrespectful and my grandma walked up to them with tears in her eyes and gave them a piece of her mind  but without raising her voice. Needless to say, they shut up and apologized.

Where were you when the towers fell?

Ok so those of you following on Twitter know that I've been buying things to help re-organize our little apartment ;)

So I wanted to help you see how much better it really is now hahahahaha

Bedroom Closet:

Linen Closet:

and the kitchen:

And I also bought side tables for the both of us for the bedroom:

And before you think I'm a terrible person making Andrew use a comforter with flowery junk on it, see it up close and see what's so special about it ;)

That's right friends, this comforter is from the Disneyland Hotel ;) I got this from Company D when they re-did the hotel! For $8! ;)

Just a little home lovin ;)

Anything new and exciting at your house??

Remember when I talked about reading my journal the other night? And how I was reminiscing about everything?

Well I also re-read about my little Annika that I lost 4 years ago. Now no, she wasn't MY child but I had kinda adopted her in a way so that she was my little buddy.

Isn't she the cutest thing on the planet? Annika had been born with a hole in her heart, and the doctors said she wouldn't live very long. But she lived 3 fun-filled and crazy years ;)

She was crazy, outgoing, giggly, full of life and love for everyone (even my brother Nick).

My heart broke completely the day I got the news that she passed. But I know God needed her home. ;)

And then earlier this year I lost another little buddy:

I posted about Ethan a couple times. He was another super energetic crazy kid that I loved ;) He always wanted to know what game we were gonna play. Last year when his family came to visit me, he dragged me onto Splash Mountain so many times hahahaha and I'm not a huge fan of that ride but I went for Ethan.

He passed at the end of March and again I know God needed him home too.

And the weird thing? Annika and Ethan would have been the same age if Annika had lived. I find that hard to believe that it's only a coincidence ;)

As painful as it was to lose both of them, I firmly believe with all my heart that He called both of them home early for a reason and to fulfill a need. First to train their soon-to-be new baby siblings  ;) And then to fulfill some higher calling that I don't know yet.

I don't know why this came into my mind to write, but possibly it'll help someone else? I still hold both of them very near and dear to my heart and can't wait to see them again ;)